Proteins dielectric spectra

Dielectric spectra, proteins, 196 Diffraction theory, and pair correlation functions, for molten salts, 616... 

Let us first discuss estimates fi om DR measurements that provide several important pieces of information. These experiments measure the frequency-dependent dielectric constant and provide a measure of a liquid s polarization response at different frequencies. In bulk water, we have two dominant regions. The low-frequency dispersion gives us the well-known Debye relaxation time, Tq, which is equal to 8.3 ps. There is a second prominent dispersion in the high-frequency side with relaxation time constant less than Ips which contains combined contributions from low-frequency intermolecular vibrations and libra-tion. Aqueous protein solutions exhibit at least two more dispersions, (i) A new dispersion at intermediate frequencies, called, d dispersion, which appears at a timescale of about 50 ps in the dielectric spectrum, seems to be present in most protein solutions. This additional dispersion is attributed to water in the hydration layer, (ii) Another dispersion is present at very low frequencies and is attributed to the rotation of the protein. 

Fig. 11.3 Data from an MD Class BioCD. (a) Time trace of gold spokes on an antinode dielectric disk with alternating immobilized antibody. A half harmonic sine wave is shown for comparision. (b) Power spectrum of the signal, showing the carrier frequency and the half harmonic protein pattern...

A good example of application is given by the protein structural changes of bovine ribonuclease A in the course of its denaturation by pressure. The UV spectrum of RNase is dominated by the absorbance of tyrosine - this RNase does not contain tryptophan. As shown in Figure 6, an increase of pressure from 1 to 500 MPa results in a blue-shift of the 4th derivative maximum from 285.7 0.05 to 283.5 0.05 nm. This shift of 2.2 nm corresponds to an increase of the mean dielectric constant from 25 to 59. It is characteristic of the exposure to the aqueous solvent of part of the 6 tyrosines, as it is expected for a partly denaturation. The transition is fully reversible with clear isosbestic points. The pressure effect can therefore be described by a simple two-state model between the native (e,. = 25) and the partially denatured (e,. = 59) state. A simulation on the basis of this model permitted us to determine the thermodynamic parameters of this transition AG° = 10.3 kJ/mol and AV = - 52 ml/mol. A comparison with results obtained by other methods indicates that the (e,. = 59) state corresponds to an intermediate in the defolding process which has molten globule like characteristics [12]. It thus appears that fourth derivative... 

Dielectric relaxation results are proven to be the most definitive to infer the distinctly different dynamic behavior of the hydration layer compared to bulk water. However, it is also important to understand the contributions that give rise to such an anomalous spectrum in the protein hydration layer, and in this context MD simulation has proven to be useful. The calculated frequency-dependent dielectric properties of an ubiquitin solution showed a significant dielectric increment for the static dielectric constant at low frequencies but a decrement at high frequencies [8]. When the overall dielectric response was decomposed into protein-protein, water-water, and water-protein cross-terms, the most important contribution was found to arise from the self-term of water. The simulations beautifully captured the bimodal shape of the dielectric response function, as often observed in experiments. 

The shift of the peak intensity wavelength of the fluorescence emission spectrum intensity in Figure 8.1 also contains significant information about the protein layer adsorbed on the NP. The blue shift of this feature is symptomatic of a shift of the dielectric properties of the medium, or more specifically the polarity of the local environment of the emitter species with the observed blue shift corresponding to a relatively nonpolar environment. Evidently, the local dielectric environment within the fully developed adsorbed protein layers is less polar than the corresponding emitter environment of the protein dispersed in solution. This is another easily understood trend from a qualitative standpoint. 

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